DSC-W90, same as DSC-W80, only diff is resolution, same message, "for use with compatible battery only", using 1 month old original BG1 battery, works fine with $10 ebay replacement, called circuit city, going back to switch to another "sony" battery, and sony has nothing on sony site, which is insane, tis is a built-in error message, so it should be in the kb, and a cheap knock off replacement works fine, but the real sony battery causes an error, like my older and sightly bigger dsc-w8 much better, real usb connection, not the proprietary multi-junk connector, and connected via the "usb" multi connector I can read my 4gb card, but put the card in my toshiba laptop, and it comes up as unpartitioned, so no idea if the battery issue is a fluke, or if there is something wrong with the camera, and sny site is no help at all, point and shoot, drop and kick is more like it, and why will the $50 multi-connector "usb" not let it charge the battery while in the camera, and retail returns aparently suck, like I am now "stuck" with it, can't stand the idea, gonna go fight it out at CC... have fun...DSC-W90, same as DSC-W80, only diff is resolution, same message, "for use with compatible battery only", using 1 month old original BG1 battery, works fine with $10 ebay replacement, called circuit city, going back to switch to another "sony" battery, and sony has nothing on sony site, which is insane, tis is a built-in error message, so it should be in the kb, and a cheap knock off replacement works fine, but the real sony battery causes an error, like my older and sightly bigger dsc-w8 much better, real usb connection, not the proprietary multi-junk connector, and connected via the "usb" multi connector I can read my 4gb card, but put the card in my toshiba laptop, and it comes up as unpartitioned, so no idea if the battery issue is a fluke, or if there is something wrong with the camera, and sny site is no help at all, point and shoot, drop and kick is more like it, and why will the $50 multi-connector "usb" not let it charge the battery while in the camera, and retail returns aparently suck, like I am now "stuck" with it, can't stand the idea, gonna go fight it out at CC... have fun...

AnonymousFeb 02, 2008

my sony dsc w200 which is just 4 months old also has the same problem

reddymy sony dsc w200 which is just 4 months old also has the same problem

i got the same problem.... tried the fix below by removing battery while holding down the power button for 1 min and still no joy... help please!!!i got the same problem.... tried the fix below by removing battery while holding down the power button for 1 min and still no joy... help please!!!

i have a sony dsc w90 it did the same thing i shorted across the three terminals on the battery its self then re charged it and presto the camera works finei have a sony dsc w90 it did the same thing i shorted across the three terminals on the battery its self then re charged it and presto the camera works fine

I have a DSC-T100 and when I turn it on it comes up with For use with compatible battery. I have tried a new battery and also holding the power button down with the battery out for the factory reset. still no luck. if anybody has found a fix to this problem. let me know thanks. sony wants over $100 to fix.I have a DSC-T100 and when I turn it on it comes up with For use with compatible battery. I have tried a new battery and also holding the power button down with the battery out for the factory reset. still no luck. if anybody has found a fix to this problem. let me know thanks. sony wants over $100 to fix.

When I turn on my sony cybershot DSC-w80 camera a message comes up that says for use with compatible battery only. I am using the original battery that came with my camera. When I turn on my sony cybershot DSC-w80 camera a message comes up that says for use with compatible battery only. I am using the original battery that came with my camera.

I have a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W55 and am having the exact same problem after using it for one year. I lost the original charger and bought a third party charger. It worked fine with the first charge but after the second charge it started displaying the messge "use compatible battery only".

Any help is appreciated. I have a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W55 and am having the exact same problem after using it for one year. I lost the original charger and bought a third party charger. It worked fine with the first charge but after the second charge it started displaying the messge "use compatible battery only". Any help is appreciated.

mines a DSC-W130 and it keeps saying *For use with compatible battery only* its getting REALLY ANNOYING i tried everything but i dont wanna ask to get a new battery cus its the same exact battery that came with it so why should i have to get a new one just cus of this!??!

it always worked until like yesterday!! i hate sony :(mines a DSC-W130 and it keeps saying *For use with compatible battery only* its getting REALLY ANNOYING i tried everything but i dont wanna ask to get a new battery cus its the same exact battery that came with it so why should i have to get a new one just cus of this!??!
it always worked until like yesterday!! i hate sony :(

AnonymousMar 24, 2009

I have problem with Sony Cyber Shot DSC W30 Camera " for use with compatible battery only" Please provide soluttion for it I have problem with Sony Cyber Shot DSC W30 Camera " for use with compatible battery only" Please provide soluttion for it

Sony DSC T100 = for use with compatible battery only****, i have the same problem with a original Sony battery, i dont no , why. i have bought also a fake battery from china from ebay. That was my last chance . i tried it, the battery is in moment ok i dont no how ever, i hope for :-( ( no more Sony. i say to the buyer let your finger away.

please sorry for my english. Sedat

Sony DSC T100 = for use with compatible battery only****, i have the same problem with a original Sony battery, i dont no , why. i have bought also a fake battery from china from ebay. That was my last chance . i tried it, the battery is in moment ok i dont no how ever, i hope for :-( ( no more Sony. i say to the buyer let your finger away.

please sorry for my english. Sedat

AnonymousMay 15, 2009

please expain in detail how to make this cable to short circut the batteryplease expain in detail how to make this cable to short circut the battery

I HAVE THE REAL SOLUTION HERE!! If you open the battery compartment, press down on the battery gently to give it a better connection, turn on your camera, then you do not get that message any longer. So, I just cut a small piece of paper and foleded it to fit over the battery before closing the battery compartment. IT WORKED!!!!! Simple and easy!!!!I HAVE THE REAL SOLUTION HERE!! If you open the battery compartment, press down on the battery gently to give it a better connection, turn on your camera, then you do not get that message any longer. So, I just cut a small piece of paper and foleded it to fit over the battery before closing the battery compartment. IT WORKED!!!!! Simple and easy!!!!

I'm having this error message coming up too but not sure how to hold down the power button as the camera switches off soon after the error message.I'm having this error message coming up too but not sure how to hold down the power button as the camera switches off soon after the error message.

HEY EVERYONE THIS WORKS. I tried everything and no luck then i read one guy said he took a small wire and short circuited the 3 terminals on the bottom of the battery."made them all touch one another at the same time....all 3!" i touched them together for about 3 seconds and then put it in the charger.and then the camera and what do ya know! IT WORKS. no more message Here's what i think is happening. this is IMO most batteries have a chip in them that has memory when you put the battery in the charger backwords Witch has been proven is the cause to this error message" it writes scrambled data on the battery. then the sony camera reads it and thinks it's not the right battery for the camera and shuts down to prevent damage. When you short the battery out it has a minor glitch and erases all it's memory then when you put it back in the charger it writes the "your a sony battery" data back into the battery and then it's all better again.I hope this works for at least one person out there cause i HATE sony. the camera i got was a gift. DONT BUY SONY they make all thier chargers and plugs different than all others so you have to buy stuff just for sony. even the lenses are odd sizes and only sony makes these odd sizes. Greedy company they are. lol hit me up if this worked for you i would like to hear from anyone whom this worked or didnt work for. wiidoctor@gmail.com

A friend of mine brought a camera by that she had just purchased new. It included 2 extra batteries. When I put each of the 2 extra batteries in, the same message displayed on the screen and the camera shut down. I shorted the connecters with a paperclip on both of the extra batteries and put one in the charger. After letting one of the batteries that was not working charge for a while, I loaded it in the camera and it worked fine. Thank you for posting that suggestion, it seems to have taken care of the issue.A friend of mine brought a camera by that she had just purchased new. It included 2 extra batteries. When I put each of the 2 extra batteries in, the same message displayed on the screen and the camera shut down. I shorted the connecters with a paperclip on both of the extra batteries and put one in the charger. After letting one of the batteries that was not working charge for a while, I loaded it in the camera and it worked fine. Thank you for posting that suggestion, it seems to have taken care of the issue.

I´ve bought a DSC-W200 with a kit; this kit contains a DB-BG1 replacement battery; I charged both batteryes: the original one, who came with the camera, and the other. When I tryed to use the replacement battery I saw the message in screen: "For use with compatible battery only". I just took out the battery from the camera; then I maked a short-circuit with a small cable between all the three electric contacts in the bottom of the battery. Then I put the battery into the camera; the camera didn´t turn on. I Took the battery out again from the camera; I placed it in the charger supplied, in a few minutes the light was off. I placed the battery in the camera, and ... I´m working well with it!

I opened up a DSC-W90 that had this problem and it was that on the front of the camerawhere the wires from the three battery terminals connect to the powercontrol unit, the middle, white, wire had become unsoldered from theboard. There was a little extra wire tucked away on the back of thegray plastic battery case on the inside so I pulled the wire out,stripped off a little more of the insulation and soldered it back tothe board where it belonged between the where the black and the redwires were connected. There were several small phillips head screws andsome ribbon cables to disconnect. All the ribbon cablejust pull out but be gentle putting them back in later. Basically I hadto remove the entire case to get at the board and wires but it did fixthe problem and was actually very easy. DO NOT FOLLOW THE OTHER POSTsAND SHORT YOUR BATTERY. THAT IS DANGEROUS AND WILL LIKELY RUIN YOURBATTERY

Had the same problem and had some discussions with Sony on this as well. They apparently never heard of this problem before! Made sure they had a look at this site as well.
They insisted that I either pay 114 pounds to get it fixed or referred me to one of their sites where I can buy a new camera...
I decided to open the camera and have a look inside. I owe a T500. It takes some tim to unscrew the camera, but finally managed to get in.
I found that there was a internal battery in the camera which powers some internal memory (sorry really don;t know what it's for, just assuming). Because I was convinced the problem was not with the battery (cause I tried 3 different batteries, all SONY), I thought cutting the internal power would reset the camera (or at least something). I short-circuited the battery by connecting the + and - sides with a metal object. After that I also short-circuited the battery (just in case). I repeated this a few times as the first attempts did not work and voila.... after time 4 the camera started working again... It was reset again and required the time and date...
Always was a sony man, but with this incident and sony's poor service, I have decided I will not buy any sony product anymore...
Hope this post helps one of you as well.

I had this same problem and fixed it in a matter of seconds. THe battery is not connected good enough, so when you press on the battery to give it a better connection then turn on your camera, it doesn't give you that message any longer. I simply cut a small strip of paper that size of the top of the battery and placed it on top before closing the battery lid. It worked! Just needed a little pressure to totally connect the battery. This sounds like a product error.

Hi everyone ! I'm from Brazil, so please apologize with my bad english... i bought a Sony model W120... i'm very satisfied... then i bought a Sony DB-BG1 replacement battery... when i use this battery, a message like this "For use with compatible battery only" appears on the screen... but i noticed that the battery in the back shows that was made in Japan (the cells i assume), and the original one in the back show that was made in China... I supose that the new model's (like w110, w120, w130, w150 and w170) has a devide to detect the cells (made in China or Japan), and the old model's (like w35, w55, and others) don't have this device... I believe this because i tested my Sony DB-BG1 replacement battery in a Sony W55 (made in Japan) and nothing happened... the same thing with my original battery (made in China)... it will be this possible one? I appreciate the attention and i hope new opinions about this... I not yet sent an email for Sony asking the respect

Hey Guys, i'm having the same problem.. But i've fixed it. Here is the solution...The Sony battery has 4 metallic terminals ( T - c) .. Remove it and wipe it with a piece of cloth. Hen here is the main issue. The compactment where the battery is kept, there is a spring there and 4 other metallic parts.. Check if there is anything (like paper) covering ANY of the the metallic terminals. Remove if any.. Try it - it worked for me.:D

Hi. I recommend fully discharging the battery (take a very long movie clip!). Next, remove the battery briefly short out the battery terminals using a bare metal paper clip (just a few seconds should do it). Worked for me.
Doing this with a fully charged battery is liable to damage the battery.

I took my Sony HDR CX190 camcorder out in my back pack while skiing. it must have got a little steamed up when we went into a bar afterwards. The same thing happened it started displaying "For use with compatible battery only". Firstly I put it in a very warm place overnight but that didn't fix it. As an ex camcorder engineer I stripped it down fully, cleaned connectors and board areas related to the battery, but that made no difference. I re assembled it and as a last ditch I tried cleaning the plastic areas around the actual battery terminals (in case it had got some slightly conductive dirt on there), also cleaned the metal of the actual battery terminals on the outside of the camera (scraped them gently with a small screwdriver). the error went away at last.

I had the original Sony NP-BN battery that came with my DSC-W310 camera, plus an almost identical spare. (the original was marked "Supplied Battery", the spare wasn't). Both were showing the "compatible only" message and turning off. I wrapped an elastic band around one battery, then tucked the stripped leads of a small 12 volt lamp under the elastic so as to touch the + and - battery contacts. The lamp glowed for 12 hours and killed the battery, (slowly, NOT a damaging dead short from tinfoil or a paper clip). Then charged the battery, works perfectly now. The spare battery still gives the error message, suggesting it was a fault in the battery, not the camera. I'm killing/charging the spare right now, will try to post an update tomorrow. Hank O.

Update; I discharged and charged the spare, it still gives the "compatible" error and shuts off. The original still works fine, so it is a difference in the batteries.Update; I discharged and charged the spare, it still gives the "compatible" error and shuts off. The original still works fine, so it is a difference in the batteries.

press the battery into the camera then turn on. it works. I put a few layers of tape inside where the battery door closes so it pushes the battery in when you close it. it worked!press the battery into the camera then turn on. it works. I put a few layers of tape inside where the battery door closes so it pushes the battery in when you close it. it worked!

I too have suffered the same message on my Sony T100. I bought a cheap replacement battery as suggested and it still hasnt worked! I still get the same message... "For use with compatible battery only"

Any other ideas?

To send it in to Sony to look at is going to cost me over half the price of the camera!

Tell us some more! Your answer needs to include more details to help people.You can't post answers that contain an email address.Please enter a valid email address.The email address entered is already associated to an account.Login to postPlease use English characters only.

Related Questions:

If applicable, ensure the lens cover has been removed before taking pictures.

Ensure the LCD backlight is turned on by pressing the DISPLAY button several times until the screen appears.
NOTE: Depending on the camera model, the DISPLAY button may be labeled as DISP or with a display icon [FIG. 1]. This button could be a standalone button or incorporated as one of the control arrow buttons depending on the model of camera.

If operating the camera with a battery, ensure the battery is fully charged.

Ensure the battery is inserted properly in the camera.

If operating the camera with the power adapter, ensure it is plugged into a working AC outlet.

Ensure no Audio/Video (A/V) cables are connected for viewing pictures on a TV; the LCD screen will not display when an A/V cable is connected.

The troubleshooting steps listed above should resolve your issue. If you have completed all of the steps and the issue is not resolved, service may be required. The Sony Service Web site at http://eservice.sony.com/ can assist you in obtaining service from a Sony Service Center or locating a Sony Authorized Servicer.

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Try to reset the camera to original settings:
How to reset a Cyber-shot® digital still camera back to original factory settings.
Solution
Cyber-shot cameras nowadays have a built-in rechargeable battery for retaining time, date, and other settings. Since the built-in rechargeable battery is not removable, current Cyber-shot camera models can only be returned to the original factory settings by pressing a small RESET button on the camera or by using an Initialize option in the menu.
Older-model Cyber-shot cameras (prior to the year 2000) do not have a built-in rechargeable battery and do not have a RESET button or Initialize option in the menu. These cameras require a manual power reset.
IMPORTANT: To determine whether or not your camera has a RESET button or Initialize option, or for other model-specific information to complete any of the steps in this solution, refer to the operating instructions supplied with the product. Manuals are available online in the Manuals/Specs/Warranty section of the Sony® eSupport Web site.
Follow the appropriate procedure below for your camera.
Using an Initialize option in the menu
Since Cyber-shot cameras have different menu system layouts, refer to the instruction manual specific for your camera model.
Using a RESET button

Locate the RESET button on the camera.

Use a pointed object (like a ballpoint pen) to press and hold the RESET button for 2-3 seconds.

I jeremy- i was having the exact same problem today. I phoned Sony repair, who then had me take out the battery and hold down the power button for about 30 seconds..reinsert the battery and power up. Didn't fix it. I came home and read some posts on here. I ended up trying the gently twist the lens as it was zooming in and out..I twisted a little and pulled a little. About the third time, it worked. (I also held the power button down with the battery in, just to try..maybe that helped, too). Sony wants flat fee of $91 to fix..is that what they told you?

FROM WHAT I CAN FIND ON THE SONY WEBSITE AND OTHER SITES, THIS MODEL HAS MANY STRANGE PROBLEMS AND MANY ERROR CODES. YOU MIGHT TRY THE " RESET " THEY LIST TO REMOVE THE BATTERY, HIT THE ON SWITCH FOR 5-10 SECONDS THEN REINSTALL THE BATTERY AND POWER UP THE CAMERA AGAIN AND SEE IF THIS CLEARS THE ERROR. YOU HAVE TO ADMIT THAT YOUR CAMERA HAS DONE SOME VERY INTERESTING THINGS IN THE PAST. I WOULD HAVE SENT IT IN FOR SERVICE WHILE IT WAS UNDER WARRANTY. IT IS SHOWING SOME SIGNS OF REAL PROBLEMS AND IT MAY HAVE TO BE SENT IN FOR SERVICE. BUT, PLEASE TRY THE RESET TO SEE IF THIS WILL WORK. I HOPE IT WILL SOLVE THE PROBLEM. PLEASE REPLY TO:ARCLIGHT1217

I just have that problem with my 2 year old w80 and I was getting the same message. I have a friend with the same camera type and try his battery pack on my camera and worked fine. I bought in Best Buy a new battery pack and is working as new again. I use my camera very heavy for inspections and seems to be that the battery life came to a end.

I bought a SONY DSC-S750 3 months ago. Since last week, when i turn the
camera on, appears the message "for use with compatible battery only".
The battery came with the camera. The camera was bought in a big store
in Philadelphia. I WILL NEVER BUY A SONY CAMERA AGAIN. I already tried
to reset, tried to remove the battery and the problem persists.